On October 30, 2018, Jenny rose to speak of a housing strategy:
Jenny Kwan (NDP) Vancouver East, BC
"Mr. Speaker, the 2018 Vancouver homeless count found 2,181 people without a place to call home. This was a 2% increase from last year, and the highest number since the count began in 2005. That is not even counting the people who are couch-surfing. People are living in tents, on the streets, and in parks.
An average one-bedroom apartment in Vancouver rents for $2,100 a month. Vacancy rates are under 1%. Home ownership is but a dream, with the average detached home in greater Vancouver reaching $1.7 million.
Meanwhile, both the Liberals and the Conservatives refuse to acknowledge that housing is a basic right. Here is a news flash for both the Liberals and the Conservatives: The need for affordable housing is real and urgent. A national housing strategy that will not see 90% of the money flow until after the next election is absurd. They should flow the money and build the housing now, not after the next election."
NDP MP Jenny Kwan reacts to Trudeau-era minister Marc Miller back into Liberal cabinet and Joël Lightbound becoming Quebec lieutenant and Julie Dabrusin taking on parks and nature to her portfolio, says ‘no matter how they try to reconfigure their look, you know, it’s the same group of people.’
MPs speak with reporters on Parliament Hill as they convene for the daily question period in the House of Commons. They face questions about Liberal MP Steven Guilbeault’s resignation from cabinet over the federal government’s new energy pact with Alberta, which lays the groundwork for a new bitumen pipeline to the B.C. coast.
Speaking with reporters are Liberal MPs Peter Fragiskatos, Sean Casey, Charles Sousa, and Anthony Housefather and NDP MPs Jenny Kwan and Gord Johns. (no interpretation)
NDP MP Jenny Kwan faces questions from reporters on Parliament Hill on reports of talks between Alberta, Saskatchewan and the federal government over the development of a new pipeline. The negotiations, which British Columbia was not a part of, pertain to the possibility of a new bitumen pipeline from Alberta to the north coast of B.C (no interpretation)